Change is Permanent: How to Turn Freshwater Aquariums to Saltwater

An aquarium is an investment toward keeping your days stress free. Sitting back, relaxing, and watching fish swim in carefree indulgence can be a very Zen activity; keeping them, having them breed, and making sure their needs are provided for is not a Zen activity. The other side of keeping an aquarium has you keeping them well-fed and fresh.

Your Aquarium

It’s pretty easy to choose the space for a saltwater tank. Any size of aquarium will do, so long as you know what size it is for your fish. You should just remember to keep the aquarium free of any type of chemicals that may do harm to your choice of fish.

Filtration units

As you clean up your old aquarium, you may notice some left-overs from the freshwater state it was in. You should clean it thoroughly, but don’t worry too much; saltwater aquariums actually benefit from freshwater bacteria, that is, if you’re replacing freshwater with saltwater.

Old tubing and materials

If you have leftover materials from your freshwater aquarium, you can use them in the saltwater aquarium without any worry. Remember to clean them first. Running water will already do the trick for you; just clear them of any residue that will harm the saltwater habitat.

Ornaments, decor

You should be careful forgetting to remove the plastic decor in a saltwater tank. These could easily become fish food for your saltwater pets, but they can easily harm your new tank inhabitants. You should only use live or fake corals as well as rocks in your saltwater aquarium.

Lighting

If you have an old lighting unit from your freshwater aquarium, you can use in your repurposed saltwater tank. There are other light bulbs you can use but a fluorescent light is fine.

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It’s not too hard and complicated to repurpose your tank. If you think you’re ready for a saltwater configuration already, begin the change and make sure you’re up to the challenges brought by saltwater specimens.